Normative Influences on Aggression in Urban Elementary School Classrooms

Abstract

We report a study aimed at understanding the effects of classroom normative influences on individual aggressive behavior, using samples of 614 and 427 urban elementary school children. Participants were assessed with measures of aggressive behavior and normative beliefs about aggression. We tested hypotheses related to the effects of personal normative beliefs, descriptive classroom norms (the central tendency of classmates' aggressive behavior), injunctive classroom normative beliefs (classmates' beliefs about the acceptability of aggression), and norm salience (student and teacher sanctions against aggression) on longitudinal changes in aggressive behavior and beliefs. injunctive norms affected individual normative beliefs and aggression, but descriptive norms had no effect on either. In classrooms where students and teachers made norms against aggression salient, aggressive behavior diminished over time. Implications for classroom behavior management and further research are discussed.

Preschoolers use trait-relevant information to evaluate the appropriateness of an aggressive response

“…A second goal of Study 2 was to investigate whether the observed effect of trait-relevant information in Study 1 would still be obtained if yet another assessment of approval of aggression were used. To that end, children in Study 2 were simply asked if it would be "okay" to hit the story character, a methodology that has been used frequently in studies of children's endorsement of aggression [Henry et al, 2000;Huesmann and Guerra, 1997;Giles and Heyman, 2003]. …”

“…One aspect of children's social cognition that has been of interest to researchers attempting to understand aggression in childhood is the extent to which children endorse, or approve of, the use of aggression as a means of responding to the provocations of others [Coie and Dodge, 1998;Giles and Heyman, 2003;Huesmann and Guerra, 1997;Henry et al, 2000; see also Erdley and Asher, 1998]. The tendency to endorse aggression has been linked to several negative behavioral outcomes, including increased levels of aggressiveness [Erdley and Asher, 1998;Huesmann and Guerra, 1997;Guerra and Slaby, 1989;Gouze, 1987], deficits in prosocial behavior [Erdley and Asher, 1998] 1985;Perry et al, 1986].…”

Perceived Social Norms, Expectations, and Attitudes toward Corporal Punishment among an Urban Community Sample of Parents

“…Social norms can be injunctive (indicating approval of a behavior, or what persons ought to do) or descriptive (indicating prevalence of a behavior, or what most persons actually do). 31 Empirical studies focused on behaviors such as speeding, 32 recycling, 31 smoking, 33 and classroom aggression 34 suggest that both types of perceived norms might have roles in shaping beliefs and behaviors. Importantly, such subjective assessments of the social environment might be just as or even more important than objective assessments in shaping parenting.…”

Contextos comunitários favoráveis ao bem-estar

“…Depois de controlados do factores demográficos, tipo de educação (isto é, educação especial) e a percepção dos participantes relativamente ao abusos de substâncias por parte dos seus pais e pares, as normas da escola foram significativamente correlacionadas com o consumo de substâncias por parte dos participantes em ambas as classes de substâncias. Henry et al (2000) analisaram a associação entre as normas explicativas e as normas imperativas e a agressão no comportamento individual entre 614 estudantes do 1.º ciclo de diversas etnias, em 45 turmas de 14 escolas urbanas e suburbanas com problemas económicos (e posteriormente replicaram os resultados em estudantes de 21 turmas em 16 escolas). Não encontraram efeitos resultantes das normas explicativas (comportamentos agressivos dos outros na turma, tal como registado pelos professores).…”

“…Os indivíduos podem apresentar as suas próprias atitudes e valores, e estes podem ser agregados para se conceber as normas comuns naquele contexto (Henry et al, 2000), ou em características do próprio contexto em si. As escalas de clima social desenvolvidas por Moss e col.…”